Covid brought this sense of a divine reset helping the church move from a passion to get back to normal to a deeper passion of getting back to the basics.
The divine reset is about coming back to our roots, back to the origin of the church. The church began as a simple Jesus movement in the hearts of people that carried the power to transform entire societies. Followers of Jesus were full of God’s grace, God’s love and God’s power! It was all about Jesus!
As the New Testament church was born, Christians were perceived as enemies of the State and were actively persecuted. Intense persecution for the first 300 years. Gathering was difficult and dangerous. Emperor Constantine became a Christian and in January of 313, Christianity was legalized.
Once the church was legalized, it got organized. Suddenly the church was less of a movement and more of an establishment. Two thousand years later, we’re still struggling to regain our true identity, purpose, and passion. Say the word church today & few people think about movement.
Our purpose is greater than pulling off a great Sunday.
What if God wants to do something in our lives together that will make an unborn generation look to Him that wouldn’t do so otherwise.
Psalm 102:18 “…That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.” NIV
Jesus didn’t die so we could go to church! We were born to be a gateway for the King!
Our surrendered time, talents and treasures become a point of entry for God’s Kingdom to invade the earth and rescue humanity! This is why it is so important that we devote ourselves to meeting together, serving together and giving tithes and offerings as an act of worship.
For the Jews, the ministry center of the family is the home. For Christians, the ministry center has become the church. Making disciples begins in the home. Family meals, communion, prayer, Bible reading, and overall time together as a family.
A divine reset brings total focus to the mission, message, and ministry of Jesus. What are the things that matter to God? His priorities will be the measure of how we will be judged one day for our actions.
Recently our family began having some phone woes. When you get a new phone, it comes with all of its original manufacturer settings. Slowly you begin giving it all of your personal preferences making it function the way you want it to function. When the phone begins acting glitchy it is sometimes necessary to reset the phone to its original settings.
When you do this you lose all your personal stuff. All the time you spent setting it up just the way you wanted it has contributed to the problem with the phone. You’re going to need to be willing to give that up to get back to its original settings.
This is largely what is taking place right now in the church.
We have applied all of our personal preferences. God is resetting us to factory settings, the creator’s way, the new testament church, the teaching of Christ, living in light of eternity. There is a resetting taking place. This isn’t about resetting around a public gathering as the focus. This is a resetting around Jesus, love God and love others, Lordship in your heart, your home, your marriage, your family, your daily lifestyle.
Are we led by God as a way of life or do we go where we want, do what we want, ask God to bless the life we’ve decided to live? Where are the desires of God in the midst of it all?
God is longing for a people whose hearts are in deep fellowship with Him.
Don’t wait for a move of God. Be the move of God!
Psalm 24:9 Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. (NIV)
We bring God’s presence to real life in every realm of society and on every level of community.
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Discuss with your friends or family how you can demonstrate the mission of Jesus very specifically this week.
OPEN THE GATES:
Psalms 24:7-10 So wake up, you living gateways! Lift up your heads, you ageless doors of destiny! Welcome the King of Glory, for he is about to come through you. 8 You ask, “Who is this Glory-King?” The Lord, armed and ready for battle, the Mighty One, invincible in every way! 9 So wake up, you living gateways, and rejoice! Fling wide, you ageless doors of destiny! Here he comes; the King of Glory is ready to come in. 10 You ask, “Who is this King of Glory?” He is the Lord of Victory, armed and ready for battle, the Mighty One, the invincible commander of heaven’s hosts! Yes, he is the King of Glory! Pause in his presence. TPT
OPEN THE GATES: THE DIVINE RESET
Discussion Guide for Community Leaders
Click here for a downloadable pdf file of this guide.
Psalm 24:9 Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift {them} up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! (NAS)
We are the gates through which the King of glory enters into our world. During this season we are learning how we don’t wait for a move of God. We are the move of God to the world around us.
We bring God’s presence to real life in every realm of society and on every level of community.
We are moving from merely having a Christian label to pursuing a Christian life. As we move toward a more basic understanding of the message, mission, and ministry of Jesus we come to a clearer understanding that we were born to be a gateway for the King.
God’s plan is for us to hear his voice together as a family. This is why we start each group with this first and
primary question for discussion.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
1. Where are you reading in your Bible and what are you sensing from God?
Covid has disrupted the common rhythms of our day and God is using it to bring a divine reset. Our purpose is greater than pulling off a great Sunday church service.
It is vitally important in the coming season for us to understand what it means to move from merely having a Christian label to pursuing a Christian life!
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
2. Moving from merely having a label to truly living the life requires us to devote ourselves to the priorities of God. What are the things you believe really matter to Jesus when it comes to how we live our lives?
The divine reset speaks of the idea of how we personalize our phones with all of our personal preferences. Then if the phone becomes glitchy it may require a manufacturer’s reset. This will cost you all of your personal preferences but the phone will once again work like it was originally designed to function. Spiritually this is taking place in the Body of Christ in this hour. God is resetting us to his original design.
It is our desire to discover what it means to live a life with total focus on the message, mission, and ministry of Jesus. God’s priorities will be the measure of how we will be judged one day for our actions.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
3. When you think about a person whose life is an expression of God’s purposes, who do you think of, and why?
For the Christians the ministry center tends to be the church. For the Jews the ministry center has always been the home. It is vitally important that we are activating our faith in our homes. This is about a legacy of serving the heart of God. We can never leave a legacy if we don’t first live a legacy.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
4. When you think about what you currently do to bless others, what comes to mind? What is something you can begin to do in order to more intentionally bless the lives of other people?
We Bring GP2RL Action Point:
Discuss with your friends or family how you can demonstrate the mission of Jesus very specifically this week.